Probe launched into domestic violence claims

Government departments in Guide county, Qinghai province, have begun investigating a case in which a former journalist claimed she had suffered from domestic violence after marrying a local beekeeper, Chinese media reported on Sunday.

The investigation was launched after popular Chinese social media website Truman Story posted a statement by Ma Jinyu, who was identified as a former reporter, on Saturday in which she said she had left her husband, Xie Decheng, and the rural county with their three children because she could no longer bear the frequent domestic violence he had inflicted nor his improper relationships with other women.

According to ThePaper.cn, a Shanghai-based news outlet, Ma said she decided to unveil the abuse she had suffered because she wanted to start a new life.

In the statement, Ma alleged that in 2015 her husband hit her head so hard after drinking alcohol that she became incontinent. She said she bore the abuse at the time, as her doctor had informed her that she was pregnant with their third child.

She added that she had been left with bruises almost every month as a result of the violence.

Her post went viral, garnering more than 100,000 views and massive public attention, which spurred county authorities into action.

On Sunday, the provincial women's federation said it has paid close attention to the statement and has ordered its department in the county to investigate.

Late on Sunday, the county department said that Ma had worked for several media outlets, including Beijing News and Southern Metropolis Daily, based in Guangdong province. She married Xie, a villager in Guide, in 2012, a report by China Women's News said.

According to a joint investigation report by the federation and the county's public security bureau, Ma left Xie in 2018 and took their three children back to her hometown of Shihezi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Ma claimed she trusted the county's publicity department would send a letter seeking aid on her behalf to both the local women's federation and the public security authority, but both said they had never received such a letter nor any reports about her domestic violence claims, the report said.

It said the couple has not divorced. The Red Star, a news outlet based in Sichuan province, reported late Sunday that Ma intends to divorce Xie this year.

Xie has been cooperating with local police, the provincial women's federation told China Women's News, but the federation has been unable to contact Ma.

When Xie was interviewed by a Chutian Metropolis Daily news outlet on Sunday, he said Ma took their three children away in July 2018 and they have not had contact since.

During the interview, Xie, 40, also denied Ma's allegations about frequent domestic violence and his improper relationships with other women.

Soon after Ma's post began spreading online on Saturday, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China said laws have always been the backbone for victims of domestic violence. It added that those who commit such violence should be punished.